Page 30 of Love You Still
Chapter 13
Vance
“The usual?” Katie asks from her spot behind the counter. Her dirty-blonde hair is piled on the top of her head, a few tendrils falling to frame her face. Her blue eyes shine with mirth as she keys in my order.
A nod is the only response I give her as I slide my card across the counter. Every day, like clockwork, I come to grab coffee for Selina and her lone employee, Emersyn, in hopes of finally gaining her attention for the first time in years. Everyone in town knows my sad story. If I’m being honest with myself, it’s pathetic, really. I’m in my mid-thirties and still trying to convince the one who got away to give me a second chance.
Selina has been back in town for a few months, and I’ve done everything I can think of to get her to give me the time of day. After our kiss in the studio before we got started on the renovations and my declaration of love for her when I had dinner at her parents’ house all in the same week, she’s been avoiding me like the plague. I can’t say that I blame her. I laid a lot of big emotions at her feet, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.
“Maybe today will be the day?” Katie flashes me a bright smile as she hands back my card, along with a receipt.
“Maybe,” I grumble as I step to the right and wait for my order.
“On your way to see Selina?” Russell chuckles, as he runs a hand through his brown hair and steps up to the counter.
Russell is a muscular man, my height, with the same shaggy haircut he’s had since I’ve known him. We didn’t talk much when we were in high school, partly because he graduated a few years before me, but he owns the hardware store across the street. I usually only see him when we need to order some more supplies, but I’ve spent quite a lot of time on Main Street since Selina came back to town.
“Yup, my daily bribe of coffee is ready to be delivered.”
“I figured since I didn’t see you lurking around the front of my store today, you may have taken the day off,” Russell replies, his brown eyes locking with mine for a moment before he shifts to Katie and places his order.
I shake my head at how ludicrous my plan to get Selina to talk to me has become. At first, it made sense that I hadn’t seen Selina or any of the girls around much. Audrey was uprooting her whole life and moving to Tyson’s Creek with her fourteen-year-old daughter. She doesn’t know a single soul here besides Selina, Leia, and Bristol. Of course, they’d go out of their way to make sure she had everything she needed to feel welcome.
But after a few weeks of Audrey and Love being in town, nothing changed. Selina even started missing family dinners on Sunday, much to both mine and her parents’ dismay. I’ve opted out of going over the last few weeks, hoping she’ll start spending that time with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Grymes missed Selina more than anyone when she was in New York, and I refuse to take the time they have with her away from them. I can find other ways to accidentally run into Selina.
That’s where the plan of hanging out around Main Street, hoping to bump into her, accidentally came around. Now I findmyself spending more time waiting for the perfect opportunity to run into her than I do anything else. At first, I would just lurk around Tyson’s Hardware, making up some random tidbit I forgot to order or that we were out of at our offices, so I needed to rush down here for it, but in reality, I only wanted to stare out the window, hoping to catch sight of Selina as she came in or out of the dance studio.
Once Russell was tired of me lurking in front of his store, I switched to Just the Drip, staring out the big front window while drinking my weight in coffee, waiting for Selina to stop by. After a few days, Katie took pity on me and let me know Selina only came into the shop first thing in the morning for a cup of coffee. She told me in no uncertain terms that if I wanted to see Selina, I would have to take the coffee to her.
For the last few weeks, I’ve been bringing Emersyn and Selina something from the café. A sweet treat, coffee, hot chocolate, anything I thought could entice Selina to take a minute and talk to me. I know I’m grasping at straws, but I’ve been trying everything to convince her to give me the time of day since she danced back into town, and she hasn’t budged an inch. I’m not asking for much, just a coffee date and a chance to get to know her again, but so far, I’ve had no luck.
“Good luck,” Katie says with a smile as she slides the cup carrier across the counter.
“Thanks. I’m gonna need it.” I grab the carrier and walk to the door. Luckily, it’s not too far before I get to Barre Studio and pull the door open.
“Hey, Vance,” Emersyn greets me as I walk through the door, a bright smile on her face as I step inside.
Emersyn is tucked behind the small welcome table in the right-hand corner of the room. To the left, along the outer wall, there are two sets of metal lockers Selina had us install during the remodel. The top two rows of lockers have nameplates withthe older dancers’ names on them and a lock, giving them space to keep some things at the studio and not have to bring them every day. The other lockers aren’t assigned to anyone, giving the younger dancers places to store their dance bags during class. There are comfortable chairs scattered around the room for parents to sit and wait for their dancers to finish class. On the other wall, running behind the welcome area, there are bright-colored leotards, bags, and photos of ballet dancers scattered along the wall to the right of the desk, stopping just short of the door leading into the dance space.
“No classes this afternoon?” I ask before flashing her a smile and setting the coffees on the counter in front of her.
Emersyn’s hand reaches toward the cups of coffee in the carrier. “The middle-grade pointe class is starting soon, but something tells me you knew that already.”
“Guilty as charged.” I reach for the cup labeled with her name and hand it to her before pulling my own from the carrier and taking a drink.
My niece, Jade, and Audrey’s daughter, Love, should both be here any minute to start class. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve used the excuse of dropping off or picking up the girls for their parents as an excuse to see Selina. I know it’s sad that I sometimes use two fourteen-year-old girls to get her to talk to me, but both girls are all for it.
“What do you think my chances are today?” I ask, pulling my cup out of the carrier and taking a drink.
“The odds are in your favor.” Emersyn winks at me before taking a seat behind the desk. “She’s in an amazing mood. She has another appointment with the doctor this morning.”
That statement is yet another reminder that I have a limited amount of time with Selina before she is off to New York again. Selina originally came back to town to rehab after her injury, but when I heard she bought Barre Studio from Ms. Cassandraand saw all the renovations she wanted to do, I’d hoped she had planned on staying in town. However, Selina made a point of letting me know at every turn that it was only temporary. She needed a place to rehab after her injury and couldn’t let Ms. Cassandra’s studio close, but I have a feeling that it’s more than that.
Running a business is hard, something I know better than anyone, and it would be very difficult to do it from a thousand miles away. According to Mrs. Grymes, Selina hasn’t been happy for the last few years, claiming that dancing has felt more like a chore than anything else, leaving me to wonder if being a prima ballerina is still her dream.
“Good news?” I question, wondering if Selina finally received the clean bill of health she’d been hoping for.
I’d be lying if I said I was hoping for a less-than-positive outcome for Selina. I want her to dance again, but not at the cost of the second chance we’ve been given. I need more time. Time to get her to open up to me and to remind her of how amazing things were and how they could be again if she would only open her heart to me.